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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Faith & Coffee

Last Christmas, Dave bought me a collection of coffee mugs. Each mug is a different color, and has a different word on it, such as Joy, Trust, and Hope.

Today I poured my coffee into my Faith mug.

The coffee is delicious, as usual, and as I've been drinking it I've continued to think about the word Faith - something that has been on my mind a lot lately.

Faith.

My faith - do I have enough faith?

Faithfulness.

God is always faithful, even when I am not.

And I've been thinking about faithfulness in the middle of circumstances. I was thinking about II Timothy 2:11-13:

11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

From these verses, and others in the Bible (Ps. 33:4: For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.), I see that God IS faithful. It's a fact. And if God IS faithful, then that means he is always faithful. And that attribute of God is completely separate from my circumstances.

Right now, I want kids more than I can say. And I don't think there's anything wrong about that desire. In fact, I think it's a very good desire. But wether I get my way or not has nothing to do with God's faithfulness.

I often hear people talk about waiting for something, or trusting in God for something, then after a while, finding that God is faithful when their request is fulfilled. But the problem with that is that it narrows my understanding of God's faithfulness.

God's faithfulness is not dependent on my desires being filled, he is faithful because that's part of who he is. That He allows me to call him "Father" is proof enough of his faithfulness, and reason to praise Him.

Deuteronomy 32:3-5

3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

God always keeps his promises. Always. But I have to be careful to understand what those promises are. He promises never to leave me, to be my Comforter, he promises to love me, to provide for me, to watch over me, and to prepare a place in heaven for all of those who accept His grace.

He does not promise children.

And therefore, if we receive children, I will thank Him for His goodness, and His blessing in our life. I will thank him and praise him for that every day of my life. But I will thank Him today for his faithfulness, because he is a faithful God.

Even when my faith falters, He is constant. He was faithful yesterday, He is faithful today, and He will be faithful tomorrow, because that's who he is.

Psalm 36:5-6

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.